5 dead in crash on rain-slicked Calif. freeway

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. 
The California Highway Patrol has reopened southbound Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles after a rainy crash that killed four juveniles and one man.

Officer John Lutz says a man died after his pickup overturned and struck the center divider on the rain-slick freeway in the Newhall Pass at 11:55 p.m. Sunday. Lutz says four youngsters in another car were killed when it hit the truck. Two more cars also crashed, leaving one person critically injured.

Southbound lanes were closed for nearly nine hours.

The names and ages of the victims were not immediately available.

Lutz says rain was a contributing factor in the crash about 25 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. But the main factor - such as unsafe speed or a mechanical problem - is under investigation.